Monday, September 21, 2015

What Poverty Does to Children

The latest numbers from the Current Population Survey show that 21 percent of children under age 18 were poor in 2014. Even worse, nearly twice as many—39 percent—live in poverty for a period of time before they turn 18. This matters because children who have ever been poor are less likely to succeed than those who have never been poor, according to the Urban Institute.

In a study of Americans born between 1968 and 1989, those who had ever experienced poverty before the age of 18 were less likely than those who had never experienced poverty to graduate from high school, enroll in college, and earn a college degree. While 70 percent of the never-poor were consistently employed between the ages of 25 and 30, the figure was only 57 percent among the ever-poor. Twenty-four percent of the ever-poor had been arrested by age 20 compared with 16 percent of the never-poor.

ABOUT ME

Demographer and editorial director of New Strategist Press, Cheryl Russell is the former editor-in-chief of American Demographics magazine and The Boomer Report. She has written numerous books about demographic trends. Ms. Russell is a professional demographer with a master's degree from Cornell University.